The Paradise Lost

I went to Kashmir with my parents when I was a kid studying in Standard V. I would not say that it was a once in a lifetime visit, because I was too dumb to register too many things. Sketchy pictures that made me promise myself to revisit this place as a grown-up are Lidder River, Gulmarg greens, and Shalimar Garden. But soon after that, to most of our ill luck, trouble brewed in the valley and the place nearly shutdown for tourists. A few brave-hearts would go nonetheless, and mostly face dire consequences. Armed forces, both official and unofficial inherited the stretch. They started a series of small skirmishes in between them to prove their respective points. Caught in between all of these, the paradise, which was otherwise home to saffron, dry fruits, apple, shawls and tourists, became the romping ground for extremist militancy and international politics. I liked the place, like so many millions of others – so I was naturally worried. Nowadays, my half-empty-glass mind is passing me hints, which makes me feel that this battle of inheritance is probably getting over. It’s a mixed feeling, to speak out loud.

We had Kashmiri Shawl vendors who used to inhabit the small time lodges of Durgapur during the winters. They would hire hand-pulled rickshaws for the full season and roam around the entire town selling their goodies. I understood two things from this group, a) they loved their valley and b) they hated the rest of India. Discussing current affairs was never my Dad’s forte – so it used to be a one sided complaining bout, whenever GN Shafi, our shawl vendor would come to our quarter with his shawl bundle. Complains against the government, complains against the tourists, complains against the customers – it used to be a complete package.

Coming back to our tour – when in Kashmir, our agent Anandaloke Tourist used to take us for sight seeing – the regulation ones. Among other things, what I had marked then was that the residents were remarkably indifferent to us. They were least bothered whether you bought anything from them or not. Our tour conductor Mr. Mishra’s observations were that foreign tourists, mostly Americans had spoilt them beyond restoration. Dollars were better appreciated even then. Naturally a couple of Indians more or less didn’t bother the locals much. Though this was entirely his opinion, the attitude of the residents did nothing to alter that; it was so blatant that even a ten year kid like me could understand.

During our sightseeing we had visited a few apple orchards, among other things. One particular incident left a bitter taste in my mouth. It was one of the orchards, I don’t remember the name of the place, but most probably it was in and around Srinagar. For a group of tourists from Damodar Valley, there was nothing like green apple laden trees of Srinagar or Anantnag. The crowd had gone berserk, and that was promptly capitalized by the money minded caretakers. In no unclear terms, we were instructed that the cost of clicking pictures with an apple tree as your background was five rupees. To touch an apple while poising was ten rupees! At 1982, that was a big amount – an entire fifteen days conducted-tour to Delhi, Kashmir and Haridwar had cost us four hundred rupees per head. A pack of ten Picture Post cards cost one rupee in Chandni Chowk, Dehi. But the caretakers were adamant about their pound of flesh. And by default, the adventurous few among us decided to touch. One thing made way for other; touch led to temptation (Adam and Eve?) and one guy snapped an apple away, put it inside his pocket and went to lookout for the caretakers – he wanted to know the price of that. In response to his enterprise, three caretakers teamed up and beat him good enough to open his face across two places, before the rest of us rushed to wrestle our wretched hero from them. All along, they kept hollering ‘tourist log sab chor hai!’ as much as their lungs would permit. We had to return their precious little green vice to them and had to flee.

Much later in life, married and all, a visit to Shantiniketan during the famous Poush Mela brought the same attitude back from my memories. There were three of them – shawl vendors. I and my wife were looking for a few nice shawls and maybe a bit of a chit chat while at it. Chit led to chat and that led to a download of an incredible amount of venom- old wine in new bottle, from the ‘oppressed citizenry’ of modern India. My wife, naturally smarter than me, slipped away – she had finished her purchase, while I was left stranded in one of the hundred temporary shacks somewhere in Tagore’s dream land, as I listened to the matchless saga of how the Govt. of India was responsible for every murder, every rape, illiteracy, flood, cold wave, draught etc; at the cost of an otherwise fine winter afternoon. The trio could have started a new religion.

There are two chief components to a tourist attraction. The natural geography is one. The second thing is its people and their output in terms of hospitality, culture, outlook and tolerance. The more culturally tolerant the locals are, the more tourist-friendly a place usually is. But Kashmir has remained different throughout. I fathom that they take a whole lot of pride in being ‘different’. Probably the government of India also thought them to be different. That’s why Article 370, that’s why billions of rupees of grant, that’s why special privileges… the list is typically Indian – tall dark and handsome. Now if I ask a simple question – Against what returns? We probably would not have an answer, any answer.

Most of us know Kashmir history by now. Let us not repeat it. But how about a round of face off? Think, why are we so hell bent on Kashmir? If it is for tourism, the answer is, tourism is doomed and would remain so. The valley people have so much of a deep rooted resentment against the rest of the country, it should surprise one and all as to how the govt. managed to achieve and maintain a peaceful status quo in the first place; how they managed to conduct a couple of elections that were accepted as free and fair, in the second. If it is for the spectacular landscape, the answer is even Himachal, Uttarakhand and Sikkim have stunning landscapes- they need a bit of brushing up. Something that is quite achievable. We don’t need a Kashmir to add significance to our GDP or economy. Then what is it that makes one and all shout about it? The probable single word answer is ego. The interference of Pakistan, which at best is a third rated nation, in the affairs of Kashmir, and the apparent love affair between them and the people of the valley has made us incorrigibly egoistic. If Kashmir goes, we lose out to Pakistan – that’s the sum total of the psychology of a majority of Indians.

But practically, over the years, Kashmir valley has been nothing but an obligation (to put it mildly) on our score sheet. We are poorer by the loss of lots of precious lives, money, resource, time and peace of mind just to ensure that that half occupied fraction of land stays within the political map of India. Out of the three parts, i.e. the valley of Kashmir, the plains of Jammu and hi altitude Ladakh, the later two have anyway decided that they would keep their priorities secured by insuring their future with the sub-continent. As far as the valley is concerned, half of it is ‘Azad’ anyway. Since the separatists feel that it is going to do them a world of good by going their counterpart’s way – my honest opinion is, so be it. Let us rather get a finger amputated than wait for it to malign the entire arm. If that makes you think of a possible precedence for other prospective separatist states, understand that Kashmir valley is different as usual. This is the only place in the whole nation where separatists enjoy and boast of civil and political support. They probably have Pakistani support too. There have been tensions across other states, but none have been sustained for more than a few years – a decade at most. Kashmir has managed to dominate the landscape of turbulence for sixty years. This kind of a situation sounds pretty deep rooted. And such a deep root suggests public sympathy – my samples put aside, look at the current status.

Think about Pakistan and the relation that it shares with USA. Grants, aids, defense and scientific supports, friendly immigration rules – pardon my English, it has been “no give; only take”. Kashmir has been our Pakistan. It has been a sordid history of take and take. All we expected was tourism – they have slaughtered that dutifully. Like USA, if we want something in return, Kashmir screams its jugular out, like Pakistan does. And India, like an old man married to a sexy young girl keeps overlooking and forgiving every darned fault of the valley.

So let Kashmir fall. I would really love to watch the fate of the newly independent valley. They have three choices as of now: a) stay with India – which definitely tops their hate list; b) get their ‘azadi’ – which is a chartbuster and which won’t probably last for more than a week, because that would trigger the third option; which is c) get annexed by Pakistan. If the third is an eventuality, probably that would do some social good to the new state. Given the way the valley inhabitants are, they would love to live life Pakistan (read Taliban) ishtyle. They would find the culture, outlook, political and social arrangements rather conducive, because that’s what they aspire for. But should option c happen, it would be without the billions from the Govt. of India.

At our end, we would sit for a while and feel terrible. A piece of land so dreamt of and glorified. A lot of us would cry their hearts out. I would probably be one of them. But as I watch Headlines Today, I see valley people wave Pakistan flags as they trample and burn the Tricolor – I guess there is but one way. If a few hectares of temporary land allotment can bring out so much of abhorrence, let them dwindle. Beauty can go and kiss oblivion. We will rebuild our borders and save some lives – of people who swear for the nation.

And if at least three of the potentially promising states of the rest of India benefit from those grants, 2009/10 would be the year(s) to look forward to.